Sabine spend another hour at least in a sad mood. She knew the day should be special, what with her reaching this milestone, but she couldn't shake it on her own. She deposited her present from Kaleeth and Janius back in her room and found herself at a loss. She wasn't tired enough to nap, she didn't have any work to do, making anything out of the troll fat would take more than a day unless she did something simple. In an effort to do at least something, she began to gather up things to take with her on the impending journey. This didn't take her long, but by the end of it, she felt that her mood had improved enough to face her friends.

Everyone sounded some mixed measure of excitement and regret amongst Sabine's friends. They were of course regretful to say farewell, but they were excited as they had not travelled nearly as much as Sabine. Perhaps it would be somewhere exciting, a source for new stories. Sabine didn't quite get as excited as them, but the sentiment turned her mood for the better. Her birthday turned out to be an enjoyable one, if marred by the morning.

[hr]
"Are you sure, Meesei?" Vera asked at the meeting. Their time working alongside one another had worn away the formality of calling her 'champion' all the time. "What makes you certain that Hircine's vision was to send you that far south? You and your pack have been a great boon to us here."

"The option is open to have a lower profile pack do the investigating," Darahil added, though not with the level of protest that Vera expressed.